diff --git a/mira/Main.cpp b/mira/Main.cpp
index 447dab2ec..3c869a102 100644
--- a/mira/Main.cpp
+++ b/mira/Main.cpp
@@ -606,8 +606,10 @@ int main(int argc, char** argv) {
 
 		string f1 = "decode_hope_epoch0";
 		string f2 = "decode_fear_epoch0";
+		string s1 = "sparse_feature_hope_counts";
     ofstream hopePlusFeatures(f1.c_str());
     ofstream fearPlusFeatures(f2.c_str());
+    ofstream sparseFeatureCounts(s1.c_str());
     if (!hopePlusFeatures || !fearPlusFeatures) {
     	ostringstream msg;
     	msg << "Unable to open file";
@@ -1362,7 +1364,8 @@ int main(int argc, char** argv) {
 
 			      if (weightEpochDump == weightDumpFrequency && printFeatureInfo) {
 			      	// print out all features with counts
-			      	mixedAverageWeights.PrintSparseFeatureCounts();
+			      	mixedAverageWeights.PrintSparseFeatureCounts(sparseFeatureCounts);
+			      	sparseFeatureCounts.close();
 			      }
 			    }
 			  }
diff --git a/moses/src/FeatureVector.cpp b/moses/src/FeatureVector.cpp
index 638690fa9..40ea8419c 100644
--- a/moses/src/FeatureVector.cpp
+++ b/moses/src/FeatureVector.cpp
@@ -323,9 +323,9 @@ namespace Moses {
       FName::incrementId((i->first).name());
   }
   
-  void FVector::printSparseFeatureCounts() {
+  void FVector::printSparseFeatureCounts(std::ofstream& out) {
     for (const_iterator i = cbegin(); i != cend(); ++i) 
-      std::cerr << (i->first).name() << ": " << FName::getIdCount((i->first).name()) << std::endl;
+      out << (i->first).name() << ": " << FName::getIdCount((i->first).name()) << std::endl;
   }
   
   size_t FVector::pruneSparseFeatures(size_t threshold) {
diff --git a/moses/src/FeatureVector.h b/moses/src/FeatureVector.h
index 38e23b9c6..6dd6d6d27 100644
--- a/moses/src/FeatureVector.h
+++ b/moses/src/FeatureVector.h
@@ -202,7 +202,7 @@ namespace Moses {
     void sparsePlusEquals(const FVector& rhs);
     
     void incrementSparseFeatures();
-    void printSparseFeatureCounts();
+    void printSparseFeatureCounts(std::ofstream& out);
     size_t pruneSparseFeatures(size_t threshold);
     size_t pruneZeroWeightFeatures();
     
diff --git a/moses/src/ScoreComponentCollection.h b/moses/src/ScoreComponentCollection.h
index 3c2186d90..61a02c51f 100644
--- a/moses/src/ScoreComponentCollection.h
+++ b/moses/src/ScoreComponentCollection.h
@@ -365,7 +365,7 @@ public:
   void Save(std::ostream&) const;
   
   void IncrementSparseFeatures() { m_scores.incrementSparseFeatures(); }
-  void PrintSparseFeatureCounts() { m_scores.printSparseFeatureCounts(); }
+  void PrintSparseFeatureCounts(std::ofstream& out) { m_scores.printSparseFeatureCounts(out); }
   size_t PruneSparseFeatures(size_t threshold) { return m_scores.pruneSparseFeatures(threshold); }
   size_t PruneZeroWeightFeatures() { return m_scores.pruneZeroWeightFeatures(); }